Curing blindness with stem cells
StemSight cures severe corneal blindness with an off-the-shelf stem cell therapy.
EIT Health Catapult semifinalist 2022
Tech Tour's flagship event for Europe's most innovative companies
"The most innovative startup in health and life sciences in Europe"
BioFIT 2020
Corneal blindness is a global problem
Over 12 million people suffer from corneal blindness worldwide, as there is a huge shortage of corneal tissue transplants. Our aim is to make spare parts for the cornea that don't rely on donor tissue.
StemSight's founding team have worked with novel biomaterial solutions for ophthalmic applications and culture and differentiation methods for human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) for several years. Building on this experience, StemSight is developing new cell therapy products for the treatment of blindness.
StemSight's first target indication is limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD), a severe rare disease of the cornea currently without valid treatment options for patients suffering from LSCD in both eyes. StemSight's off-the-shelf stem cell product could provide these patients with a cure to regain their vision.
In the future, we aim to use the same stem cells to make other types of corneal cells, so that we can help patients suffering from other forms of blindness, such as corneal endothelial dystrophies.
Pioneering solutions to cure blindness
StemSight develops cell-based therapies to treat corneal blindness using allogeneic induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
Limbal stem cells
Often caused by burns or chemical injuries to the surface of the eye, limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) results in overgrowth of surrounding tissue and blood vessels to the surface of the eye. This painful and blinding condition goes often untreated due to poor long-term outcomes of existing solutions. We aim to permanently restore vision to patients with LSCD by delivering new limbal stem cells with real regeneration potential.
Corneal endothelial cells
Corneal endothelial dysfunction is the underlying cause in about 40 % of all corneal transplantations done today. With the overwhelming shortage of donor cornea tissue, we propose a method independent of any donor material for the production of corneal endothelial cells. StemSight's endothelial cells on top of a carrier material can be used similarly to DSAEK endothelium transplantation.
Our team
The team compliments the scientific excellence in stem cells and tissue engineering of the founder team with experience from clinical ophthalmology and pharma industry in their board of directors.
Laura Koivusalo
CEO
DSc, Stem cells
and tissue engineering
Anni Mörö
COO
PhD, Biomaterials and cellular interactions
Tanja Ilmarinen
CSO
PhD, Cell biology and ocular in vivo models
Heli Skottman
CTO
Prof., GMP production of human stem cells
Aapo Kiviniemi
CLO
Master of Laws, Executive MBA. Corporate agreements and commercialization of research
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Our Board and Advisors consists of business professionals, clinicians, regulatory experts and medical advisors.
News and Events
15/06/2022
StemSight wins in the Silicon Vikings Finland pitching competition finals
StemSight has been selected as the winner from Finland in the Silicon Vikings New Nordics pitching competition. The Nordic and Baltic finalists will compete against each other in the Grand Finals during Slush Week in November.
28/03/2022
StemSight winner of two Tech Tour events
StemSight was selected among the best presenting companies in two consecutive events organized by Tech Tour. The European Healthtech Investment Forum and the Future22 flagship event for the very best innovative companies.
15/02/2022
Heli Skottman a finalist for Innovation Professor of the year
Business Finland, Spinverse and Technology Industry Finland have selected our CTO and founder Heli as one of the three finalists for the 2nd Innovation Professor of the Year award. We're very proud of her!
23/10/2021
Laura Koivusalo awarded by JCI Finland
StemSight's CEO Laura was awarded as one of Finland's Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) 2021 by JCI Finland. Congratulations!
14/09/2021
StemSight closes 500 k€ seed round
We are proud to announce the successful seed funding round lead by Finnish deep-tech VC Voima Ventures and Avohoidon tutkimussäätiö. This funding goes to further development of StemSight's cell therapy product for limbal stem cell defiency.
10/06/2022
StemSight a semifinalist in EIT Health Catapult programme
StemSight has been selected among the 14 European Biotech startups selected to compete in the semifinals of EIT Health's Catapult programme. Each year, the competition showcases Europe’s most promising biotech, medtech and digital health start-ups to leading experts and investors.
15/03/2022
StemSight awarded 50 000 € Silmu grant
StemSight received the 50 000 € Silmu grant from Instrumentarium Science Foundation. The foundation has a long history in supporting research in medical technologies and life science.
13/01/2022
Tissue Cure Alliance Finland seminar on iPSC and regenerative medicine
StemSight - as part of Tissue Cure Alliance Finland - participates in the free seminar on iPSCs and regenerative medicine on Jan 20 2022. Sign up to hear and discuss the topic with the experts!
14/09/2021
StemSight featured in Sifted
Following the press release of StemSight's seed investment, the prime European startup media Sifted did a great piece on the future of stem cell therapies to cure blindness, by interviewing our CEO Laura.
31/08/2021
StemSight granted 190 k€ from Regional Development Fund
The Finnish Centre for Economic Development has granted 190 k€ in funding for advancement of StemSight's limbal stem cell deficiency product development. The funding is part of EU's regional development funding.
Want to know more?
Interested to hear about our most recent updates, upcoming milestones and investment opportunities? Have an potential collaboration idea? Just thought of someone we absolutely need to meet to help us along?
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